Proverbs 5
1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding;
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil [is] her mouth,
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on the nether-world; (Sheol h7585)
6 The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not.
7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house;
9 Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
Lest thou give thy vigour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel;
10 Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in the house of an alien;
11 And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
And say: 'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
Neither have I hearkened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.
I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.'
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
Let thy springs be dispersed abroad, and courses of water in the streets.
17 Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.
19 A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.
A lovely hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; with her love be thou ravished always.
20 And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
Why then wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of an alien?
21 For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He maketh even all his paths.
22 His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23 He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel.
